Sir Neil O'Neill ( ga, Niall Mac Anrí Ua Néill; January 1658 – 8 July 1690), 2nd Baronet of Killylagh,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, was an Irish Jacobite soldier.Notes to Wright-Portrait
on the Website of the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

(English, recalled on January 5, 2012) He was the Lord of Clandeboye. O'Neill's portrait from 1680 by

John Michael Wright John Michael Wright (May 1617 – July 1694) was an English or Scottish (he signed as both at times) portrait painter in the Baroque style. Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and acquired a considerable rep ...

is historically significant because it is the only surviving contemporary presentation of the traditional costume of an Irish chieftain. At his feet is the armour of a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

as a symbol of victory over the oppression of Catholics; next to him is an Irish wolfhound as a symbol of Ireland.

Life

An Irish Catholic noble and military leader, he was born January 1658, the son of Sir Henry O'Neill, 1st Baronet of Shane's Castle, Killelagh and Eleanor Talbot, daughter of

Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet (died 16 March 1634), was an Irish lawyer and politician. Birth and origins William was the son of Robert Talbot of Carton, County Kildare, who was the third son of Sir Thomas Talbot of Malahide, County Dub ...

. His uncle was Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell and Viceroy of Ireland. His male line genealogy is Neil son of Henry son of Niall Og son of Niall son of Hugh son of Felim Baccach son of Niall Mor son of Conn son of Aodh Buidhe son of Brian Ballach son of Muircheartach Cennfhada ( Chiefs of Clandeboye) son of Henry, King of Tír Eóghain

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

. O'Neill was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Armagh This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Armagh. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1831. L ...

by King

James VII and II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

in 1689. He led 800 Jacobite dragoons at the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and J ...

against Williamite troops under the command of the

Duke of Schomberg Duke of Schomberg in the Peerage of England was created in 1689. The title derives from the surname of its holder (originally Schönberg). The Duke of Schomberg was part of King William of Orange's army and camped in the Holywood hills area of ...

and was killed in action. He was wounded in the battle, near

Slane Slane () is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 ( Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). As of the 2016 cen ...

. He was carried first to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and thence to

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

where he died of his wounds due to the negligence of his surgeons. His grave is in the cemetery of the French Church in Waterford; the gravestone reads:

Here lyes the body of S. Neal O'Neill, Baronet of Killelag in the County of Antrim, who dyed ye 8th of July, in the year 1690, at the age of 32 years and six months. He married the second daughter of Lord Viscount Molyneux, of Sefton, in Lancashire, in England. Reguiescant in Pace.

Family

O'Neill married in 1677 or 1683 Frances Molyneux, second daughter of The 3rd Viscount Molyneux, the

Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of thes ...

, and his wife Mary Barlow. With her, he had at least four daughters: Rose, Mary, Elizabeth and Ann. His wife and daughters were painted by the Irish painter

Garret Murphy Garret Morphy (alternatively Morphey, Morphew, or Murphy) (c. 1655 - c. 1716) was an Irish painter, who is considered to be Ireland's first recorded professional artist. Early life Little is known about Garret Morphy's origins and personal life ...

c. 1700. Rose married Nicholas Wogan of

Rathcoffey Rathcoffey () is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, around 30 km west of Dublin city centre. It had a population of 271 as of 2016 census. The village church, Rathcoffey Church, is part of the Clane & Rathcoffey Parish, and was built in 1710 ...

, and Anne married John Segrave.
http://www.galleryofthemasters.com/m-folder/morphy-garret-ann-o-neill.htm

As he had no son, the title passed to his brother Daniel, but was forfeited in 1691. Daniel managed to retain much of the family estates, but as his brother had died deeply in debt, he was obliged to sell Killyleagh in 1703. Frances died in 1732. His only sister Rose, foster daughter of Rose O'Neill the Marchioness of Antrim, married Captain Con Modera O'Neill, son of Colonel Con mac Brian O'Neill, both of whom fought with him at the Battle of Boyne, and the former leading the heroic efforts of the Irish forces at the Second Siege of Aughrim.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Neil, Sir 1658 births 1690 deaths 17th-century Irish people Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Irish Jacobites Irish soldiers in the army of James II of England O'Neill dynasty War-related deaths